The Flying Inn

Description

Considered by many readers to be his most underrated work, this 1914 novel remains full of import for readers almost a century later… and is still a rollicking good read. In a future Britain where a form of Islam has come to dominate the culture, political schemer Lord Ivywood has set about to ban alcohol. Into this fray steps boisterous Irishman Patrick Dalroy and English pub owner Humphrey Pump, who set off on a round-the-country tour with their mobile pub, a flying inn, in an attempt to undermine the new prohibition. Outrageous and thoughtful in equal measure, as was Chesterton’s trademark, this is a wickedly witty sendup of political correctness, Puritanism, religious sanctimony, and oppressive laws, as well as a startling depiction of the cultural clash between Eastern spirituality and Western ideals that we’re still contending with today.